Bending tool



Patented Sept. 22, 1933 BENDING TOOL Koehn. Montezuma; Kans, aha Jalmera; p g Lyytinen; Kansas' City, Mo. v Application December 16, 1935;SerialNo. 54,693

aolaims. (01. 153 -15 Our invention relates-to a bending tool and whileit may be used to advantage for bending rods, tubes and other articles,it is more particularly adapted for bending the valve-stems of pneumatictires so that when the latter are installed on the wheels of automotivevehicles the outer ends of said valve-stems will extend outwardly to oneside where they can be conveniently reached when it is desired toinflate the tires.

One object is to provide a simple, inexpensive and eflicient tool ofthis character for use by tire dealers and others having occasion to usea device of this character.

In order that the invention may be fully understood, reference will nowbe had to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the tool with a valve stem in position thereonready to be bent.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the parts shown by Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the tool, taken on line 33 ofFig. 1, showing the hand lever raised instead of in the horizontalposition, to form the initial bend in the valvea stem.

Fig. 4 is a vertical cross section on line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a detail showing the valve-stem after being bent in two placeswith the tool.

In carrying out the invention we provide a bed-plate 2 reinforced on itsupper side with a pair of longitudinal ribs 4 which are spaced apart toadmit a hand lever 6 when the latter is in the horizontal position shownby Figs. 1 and 2. The hand lever 6 is bifurcated to provide alongitudinal opening 8 of sufiicient length and width to readily admit astraight or unbent valve-stem A connected in the usual manner to aninner tube B.

The sides of the opening 8 are united at their lower forward portions bya transverse bridge I0 which cooperates with a seat I|,'on the forwardpart of the bed-plate 2, in supporting and bending the valve-stem A aswill hereinafter appear. The hand lever B is fulcrumed at one end upon apivot l2 mounted in a pair of spaced ears l4 extending upwardly from theforward portion of the bed-plate 2 and beveled at their forward sides 15to form seats for the oblique ends of the customary washer C mountedupon the valvestem A. One of the ears I4 has an upwardly extendingshoulder I6 arranged in the path of a lug l8 projecting laterally fromone side of the hand lever B to check the upward movement of the latterwhen it reaches the position shown by Fig. 3 to form the initial bend Din the valvestem A. The opposite sideof the hand'lever 6- is providedwith an indicator 20 adapted to cooperate with an index point 22 on theadjacent ear M in determining when the hand lever B has been raised toan angle of approximately 45 degrees PATENT aoFFic-E to form the secondbend E in the valve-stem A.

A gage 24 is formed on the hand lever B at opposite sides of the opening8 so that it may be readily determined how far the valve-stem A shouldbe inserted in the opening 8 preparatory to making the second bend E.

In practice the bed-plate 2 of the tool is secured by suitable meanssuch as bolts F to the top G of a work bench, so that it will be firmlyheld in place and thereby leave one hand of the operator free toposition the valve-stem A in the tool and the other hand free to operatethe hand lever 6. When it is desired to initially bend a valve-stem thesame is pushed forwardly into the opening 8 and beneath the pivot [2until checked by the washer C contacting the beveled sides l5 of theears [4 where it is held with one hand while the lever 6 is raised withthe other hand to the position shown by Fig. 3. As the hand lever 6moves upwardly it causes the bridge Hi to bend the valve-stemapproximately a quarter turn around the pivot l2, while the end of thevalvestem next to the inner tube B is held in its seat I I. The handlever B is then lowered, after which the valve-stem A is pulledoutwardly until its end H registers with the gage 24. The valve-stem Ais then rotated a half revolution so that when the second bend E isformed it will extend in a reverse direction to the bend D as shown byFig. 5. The hand lever 6 is then raised to approximately an angle of 45degrees, which is determined by the indicator 20 registering with theindex mark 22, to form the bend E. After being bent as stated thevalve-stem A is removed from the tool.

From the foregoing description it is apparent that we have provided atool which is well adapted for the purpose intended, and while we haveshown a preferred embodiment of said tool we reserve all rights to suchchanges and modifications thereof as properly fall within the spirit andscope of the invention as claimed.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is:

1. A device adapted to bend a valve-stem in two places comprising abed-plate, a pivot spaced from said bed-plate to leave room forinsertion of a valve-stem between said pivot and the bedplate, earsprojecting from the bed-plate to sup port said pivot and act as a stopfor the valvestem when the same has been inserted in the space farenough for the initial bending operation, a lever operably mounted uponthe pivot and adapted to coact therewith and the bed plate in bendingthe valve-stem, and a gage on the lever adapted to coact with thevalve-stem in determining correct positioning of the latter preparatoryto the second bending operation.

2. A device adapted to bend an article intermediate the ends thereof andcomprising a bedplate, a pivot supported above saidbed-plate to leaveroom for insertion of the article between said pivot and the bed-plate,a lever operably t mounted upon said pivot and adapted torcoacttherewith and the bed-plate in bending the article, and gage means onthe lever adaptedto coact with the article in determining correctpositioning of the latter preparatoryto the bend-. ing operation.

3. A device of the character described comprising a bed-plate, a pivotsupported above said bed-plate to leave room for insertion of avalvestem between said pivot and the bed-plate, a lever having alongitudinal opening for reception of the valve-stem and operablymounted upon said pivot, and bridge means extending across said openingand adapted to coact with said lever, the pivot, and the bed-plate inbending the valvestem.

4. In a device adapted to bend a valve-stem equipped with a washerhaving oblique ends, a pair of ears spaced apart to admit the valve andhaving beveled forward side to provide seats for the oblique ends ofsaid washer, a support for said ears, a pivot mounted in said ears andspaced from said. supportrto leave room for insertion of avalve stembetween said pivot and the support, and a lever operably mounted uponsaid pivot and adapted tocoact therewith and the support in bending saidvalve'stem.

' FRANK L. KOEHN.

' JALMER. LYYTI'INEN.

